This is a (the?) Canon rumor site...a rumor site...full of fan-bois from all of the world...with lots of differing perspectives.
Some of those perspectives would have you believe they are right in there with Canon's decision-makers!
I have some awareness of how one particular high-profile set of businesses in the United States 'does business'...and to try to draw a parallel between that business and the 'imaging' business, it must be pointed out that
all customer opinions in these high-profile businesses are
noted (of course, some are noted more than others and some opinions are even
valued).
Sometimes, in the enterprises I'm referring to, knee-jerk decisions are made in response to sentiments expressed in various public forums.
WIth the benefit of hindsight, some of those very decisions have not had the desired outcome...other than, at times, sort of changing the subject.
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I don't spend all that much time on YouTube when it comes to photography. I know about the Northrups more from reading criticism of their videos here and perhaps dpreview than I do from actually watching them.
But their latest showed up on my YouTube feed:
I watched it. All of it. I see why they've made it work.
But while I am rather ambivalent about the matter at hand (the RF Wall), I am quite interested in what Canon will (or won't) do. Why? Because I think the very existence of the internet changes things.
I did take note of the nearly 70K views of the Northrup video ("Canon's making a huge mistake. Speak up."), the 1.6K comments, and the 4K 'Likes'...all within 24 hours of posting.
Canon is getting scalded in the comments.
And as I read them, it became clear to me that some of those who posted had already purchased Canon's R5, with the expectation that third-party zoom lenses would be available for the RF mount.
The intensity of their posts reminds me of one of the neat terms to come from the 'net:
'
The Streisand Effect': The
Streisand effect is a phenomenon that occurs when an attempt to hide, remove, or censor information has the unintended consequence of increasing awareness of that information, often via the Internet. The Streisand effect is an example of psychological reactance, wherein once people are aware that some information is being kept from them, they are significantly more motivated to access and spread that information.
So 'the internet' is, I think, speaking loud and clear on this subject (whether or not Canon intentionally hid anything).
And the internet is an amazing, almost living, thing...where amazing can mean, and lead to, just about anything you want it to.
Sometimes the 'amazing' helps lead to surprising...even shocking...outcomes and events...even for things that really matter (Jan 6 comes to mind).
I assume Canon has thought this through. I want to see the company fluorish. And the walled garden has worked out pretty well for Apple.